Fallen Temples
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| The Temple by Tomasz Zaczeniuk @fotowizjer Used with Permission |
Part 1
Horus
In time to come, a prayer could resurrect
Horus from his ruination; to ascend, a new sun,
above the collapse of civilizations.
An avenging god of broken light,
thus awakened to lift his hollowed eyes
from speculation of this eroded temple:
stone has crumbled into bleached sand
of a desolate shore and sea is mere memory;
the sky a shattered mirror of fallen stars,
the falcon god might rend the fabric of heaven
with his granite-fletched wings, and never again
contemplate the baseless pylons of human history.
This poem is written in collaboration with surreal artist, Tomasz Zaczeniuk, featured at The Imaginary Garden in this month's Art FLASH! prompt.
Deep. This capture is quite remarkable. Stunning.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karen.
DeleteThis is absolutely glorious in its portrayal of the Egyptian falcon god, Kerry!💖 I wonder how the divine struggle played out between Horus and Seth. Especially like the image; "the sky a shattered mirror of fallen stars." Woww!💖
ReplyDeleteI saw the Tomasz's temple as the last remnant of civilization.. and wondered what the old gods would think of the progress of mankind. Thanks, Sanaa.
DeleteI saw this as an end of civilization as well... love how you included that ancient deity of Horus... maybe coming back as avenger... or maybe he doesn't need to do anything, we have crumbled it all all by ourselves.
ReplyDeleteMy research revealed that Horus was an avenging god of sun and stars, so I went with that idea. I am glad it has impact. Thanks, Bjorn.
DeleteInteresting poem Kerry. the god Horus as an avenger at the brink of the end of civilization. I too saw the picture as the end of civilization.
ReplyDeleteOh the mythical reference adds so much to this piece... it's true we will be forgotten as a bad experiment...
ReplyDeleteThe ages of antiquity are not that very far removed from the present, in terms of the planetary lifespan... but man has certainly done his best to destroy it all in the last 5 thousand years.
DeleteI'm glad to visits the thoughts of the prompter. I hadn't known Horus but I'm not well versed in mythology at all. Just a brush here and there in literature classes. I believe you are unique in finding the source of all that beach sand in such a desolate looking place. I like it.
ReplyDelete..
Why, thank you most kindly, Jim.
DeleteLooks like we're in for a mythic flight, and a treat at that. Leaves me thinking that Horus should have picked another animal other than the human one to perch upon and falcon its thought. Seamless with the image, which probably will make it soar on Instagram.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brendan. I felt genuinely inspired to write this one - nice, when so many times I feel like I am forcing my lines, using old themes.
DeleteVery good use of the archetypal to comment on the new. Is it new? New in its dimensions. Thank you, Kerry. k.
ReplyDeleteDo we not continue to repeat the old stories? Pretty much everything has been written or spoken. I hope has a fresh spin, at least.
DeleteThanks, Karin.
I think the old gods would be horrified by what we have come to. An awesome poem, Kerry.
ReplyDeleteThe old gods were rather cruel, though, so perhaps this is their time for rebirth.
DeleteYowza. I feel rather pedestrian, somehow. Oh well. This is really compelling in its grand mythological wondrousness
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, have you read Circe by Madeline Miller?
This was a shot in the dark, Marian. Took me some time and shook me out of my state of semi-retirement, albeit for a day.
DeleteWhat a wonderful poem!!
ReplyDelete“The sky a shattered mirror of fallen stars.” Incredible image.
ReplyDeleteYour take on this art is imaginative and creative. Have to confess that I had to look up Horus.
Thanks, Sara. I knew of Horus but I did look up some info to write the poem too, so i could get a feel for his part in the structure of Egyptian religion.
DeleteThe thought of an ancient god, who feeds on vengeance, coming back to see what we've done with the place is a terrifying one. Because we've broken everything and have so little to show for it. The last stanza reads like a sentence that leaves all the guilty parties screaming in their own desolation.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was going for, so I am very pleased that the meaning was not lost in the descriptions.
DeleteAmazing story here Kerry- wonderful!
ReplyDeleteAn ancient god comes back to view our mess and claws the sky as if to say there is nothing left to leave even a splinter memory. The image as well as your words speak the power and grief of annihilation.
ReplyDeleteYou went in a wonderful more triumphant focus at possibility, which I like Kerry! I went dark with it.
ReplyDeleteyou may not know, but Yeats 'the second coming' was my introduction to poetry in college, and diverted me from engineering, into rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteso those Saharan sands and their ancient gods have always been beneath my feet, as we contemplate the ruin we 2-legged tempests have wrought ~